For Some Reason
by Taisi
Summary: Wally's dad doesn't beat him- it's not frequent enough to be called that. And besides, Wally can handle this for two more years. He can.
1. Part One

A/N: Canon is beating this idea with a stick, especially after Coldhearted, but I'm a stubborn person, so here you go! It'll be a two-shot.

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><p>For some reason, Wally's speed didn't seem to work around his dad. It's not like his dad had super powers or something- but every time he would yell, lumber over, grab him, Wally wouldn't run.<p>

He would stand there, stare at his father, ignore his mother who was already busy ignoring them, and he wouldn't run.

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><p>The Flash ruffled his hair affectionately and he laughed, reaching up to grab ahold of the superhero's wrist. Yeah, the rest of his team was watching, yeah, he should probably be shrugging the touch off and scowling at being treated like a kid, but he <em>liked<em> to know Uncle Barry was proud of him, he liked knowing he did a good job, he liked when the hand on his head wasn't fisting his hair to level his face for some new bruises-

"You know- " It was Artemis who broke the considerate, affectionate silence of the Cave, of course it was her "- the Flash seems a lot like your dad, Wally."

And it was like the whole world was crashing down and she had no idea what she just said but still Wally was vibrating in something that probably looked like rage but felt a lot like panic as he turned to her- so quickly he saw afterimages- and snarled, "The Flash is _not_ my dad!"

Uncle Barry was _nothing_ like his dad.

The next beat of silence was tense and thick and Wally's fists were clenched and he couldn't slow the way his heart was beating madly in his chest- The Flash touched his head again, more gently this time, and even though his face was covered with a cowl, he looked sad.

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><p>Bruises were nothing to someone who regenerated as fast as he did. Gone within the hour, usually, depending on how bad they were. The one he was sporting currently was pretty purpley and made it hard to see out that eye, and he didn't really have time to wait around for it to go away since he was supposed to be at the Cave five minutes ago.<p>

He pulled his cowl on carefully, hoping it would cover at least most of the damage, and wasn't entirely surprised when the black eye was still pretty obvious. He'd come up with something though, he always did. Freak dodge-ball accident in P.E. maybe- he hadn't used that one yet, and if he pitched it well enough, it'd sell.

His friends bought it readily, a little incredulous but hey it's Wally after all, and he's done weirder things. He grinned and joked it off and all was well, but when he caught Robin's eye, the boy wonder wasn't laughing.

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><p>Megan was really interested in his home life. He was the only one besides Robin who had like, a legitimate family, and of course Robin would be tight-lipped about it as <em>always. <em>God, why.

"I was just wondering- is it anything like it is on TV?" Her smile was bright and he couldn't really get mad at her for being curious about something she'd never experienced, and never really have.

"Uhh- you could say that, yeah." He grinned and stretched back in his chair- wincing when that rubbed his back the wrong way (like he could remember where all the bruises were all the time) and ignoring the sharp look Robin sent him. He cast around for something to say and his mind landed on the weekends, when he ran from Keystone to Central City, and Iris had dinner ready and a place for him at the table, and met him with a hug the way his parents never did, and Barry asked about grades and his friends, and told him patrol stories that didn't air on the news and…

"I'm actually more interested in Kal's house," he said, swinging around to grin upside down at the Atlantian, who smiled at his antics like an older brother. "What's it like where you live?"

And boom, subject diverted. It shouldn't be so easy.

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><p>He skidded into the cavernous hall of the cave, his head whipping around, because this could <em>not <em>be happening. His teammates glanced at him, and something on his face- uncowled, he wasn't in costume-must have made them a little worried. He didn't stop to talk though, breezing past them, through every room, finally finding Flash in the training room with Batman.

The two heroes were talking, but Wally surged forward anyway and it came out loud, like a shout, but he didn't mean for it to as he said, "Unc- Flash, what are you doing?"

And they didn't even look annoyed he'd interrupted- not even _Batman, _who only looked at him impassively. The Flash looked at him, and there was _regret _in his face, and that only propelled Wally deeper into panic.

"You don't have to do this. I'll be _fine. _Just two more years now, just _two, _and I'll be out of there- "

"Wally-"

"_Please, _I- it means a lot that you would be _willing _to- to take me in, really, but…" His fists were shaking, they were clenched so tight. "But, I'm okay, really, I'm _okay- "_

Batman made some aborted motion, but the Flash was faster. He had Wally by the shoulders, crouched to put their eyes at level, and looked at him so sternly Wally stammered into silence.

"_Wally_. Something should have been done _months _ago. It should never have been allowed to become like this."

There was no way to pretend he didn't know what Barry meant. "It's not-it's- I can handle it, I _can, _it's not that bad- "

"Robin came to me about the bruise around your eye. I investigated further." Batman spoke slowly, and his voice was- almost gentle, like Wally was a wounded bird. He'd only ever spoken to Robin like that.

_Robin, _who was too smart for his own good-

"Why didn't you say anything, Wally?" Barry sounded tortured. "You should have told me, I could've taken you away from there so much sooner."

This was everything that shouldn't be happening. Everything Wally was determined to avoid. It was _his _problem to deal with, and he was dealing with it, wasn't he? He never wanted Barry to become involved.

But he was now, and so was _Batman _of all people, and even Robin a little bit, and- the truth, finally, was bubbling up his throat, threatening to pour out his mouth, because the truth was he was so tired, all the time, of hurting and lying and pretending things were great when things really weren't; but he was scared too, so scared, that even the truth might not save him, that there was nothing anyone could do, that people would treat him like he was broken, like he didn't function right, that this would change things with his friends, the friends he lived for on some days when things at home were especially terrible.

That first time his dad hit him, he hadn't been shocked, he'd seen it coming, he could have moved out of the way, but he didn't, and he hadn't brought it up with anyone. Then the hits kept coming, and it was too late to say anything even if he wanted to, which he didn't, and he wasn't sure _why _he didn't, he just…

"You… you'll get sick of me." The words were quiet, uttered. "You'll… I'm annoying, right? I'm… good in small doses." That's what his friends had said once, laughingly, and they hadn't meant it but the words had stuck with him anyway. "You'll stop loving me as much if you have to deal with me every- "

Strong arms came around him tightly, crushing him against the lightning bolt emblem that meant the entire world to him, and his uncle didn't need to say anything after that- because Wally was crying, Wally was _stupid- _

He should have known the Flash would save him.

tbc


	2. Part Two

A/N: This was a really hard chapter to write. I listened to "Rubik's Cube" by Athlete practically the whole time, so you might wanna make that your song of choice if you listen to music while you read. XD

This chapter's kinda almost twice as long as the first one, but I promised a two-shot, so enjoy! ouo

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><p>Stupid bad guy. Stupid explosives. Stupid collapsing building. He grabbed the last civilian left inside, a sobbing ten-year-old, and held him carefully as he rushed him outside into the street.<p>

Uncle Barry always warned him to be careful with regular people— their bodies didn't work like a speedster's did. Wally couldn't really remember a time when he didn't have super-speed, having lived with it for so long, but he knew it was the Speed Force that slip-streamed the air around his body to protect him as he ran, and he knew that whoever rode along for the ride wasn't protected in the same way.

He had to be careful, always careful, every time he scooped someone up out of harm's way, not to accidentally give them whiplash or break their neck— it was something deeply ingrained in his brain at this point, that even in a panic he had to be _careful. _

So he set the little boy down and ruffled his hair—because he was scared, and Wally was a hero for the people, wasn't he?—before glancing back at the building.

"_Alright KF_," Robin said over the comm-link, sounding a little annoyed like he _always _did when he talked to Wally these days. "_That's all of them. Let's go, the team's heading back and the police are here to handle the rest."_

_"Roger, Rob," _Wally replied, a little distracted, because he couldn't shake a certain sinking feeling. A feeling he knew he'd _regret _shaking—

"Mattie!" A man broke through the crowd and ran to the boy at Wally's side, dropping to his knees when the boy ran to meet him with desperate arms and a renewed bout of sobbing. The man held him, and brushed his hair back with trembling fingers and Wally started to step away to give them room when he said, his voice dropping in what was slow, creeping horror, "Where's your sister?"

_His sister?_

To everyone else it must have seemed like the blink of an eye, but to Wally it was a tense moment of watching the building heave and groan and begin to crumble inward, of terrified fathers and sobbing children and someone trapped inside and a _hero doing nothing—_

He sprinted forward.

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><p><em>"- your sister?"<em>

Robin's heart lurched to a stop and what scared him more than anything was the tense beat of absolute stillness from Wally's end of the comm-link—next to the background noise of raised voices and the noisy collapse of a department store, Wally didn't speak.

And for an instant, the hum of vibrations filled Robin's ear, and before he could open his mouth to beg Wally not to do anything stupid, their radio connection almost shorted out with a burst of static and Robin knew his best friend was running.

The holoscreen on his gauntlet was feeding him the live coverage of the building, patching it straight from the news crew; the building was folding in on itself, crumbling, rubble toppling onto the street. Pedestrians scattered, screams rising to fill the air, and Robin could only stand there, trapped in the pocket of the last three seconds.

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><p>Wally had never gone so fast before in his life.<p>

It was moving so fast it was _slow; _everything around him seemed frozen in time, all the debris and rubble and broken glass and metal fragments of whatever framework had burst through the brick and mortar was falling around him in super slow motion, and he ran through, glancing around-

There was fire in some places, but he didn't feel it as he moved. He must have checked the whole building in less than a second, found the little girl huddled in a corner between a counter and a tall shelf, scooping her up as pretty suddenly the speed was picking up and cognition hit him like a punch in the stomach-

_He was running out of time_ and the door was much too far away-

_A window, there!_

He dove.

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><p>"Get out of my sight," Rudy snapped, thrusting the documents over like they were garbage and moving to his feet—but of course, Uncle Barry beat him there. "I don't care what you do with that boy."<p>

It took Iris' hand on his arm to keep Barry from disappearing into relative time and slamming Rudy's head against a wall, Barry looked so angry. It would be so easy, Wally knew, but for some reason the blond man held back.

And Wally just sat there, staring at the people who had signed him away so easily. His mom was crying, but she sure as hell wasn't speaking up—

"You really don't care?" His voice came out a whisper. "You—you _really_ don't care? At all?"

_I'm your_ son! he wanted to yell, but he didn't.

_And now_, he thought, as his father didn't answer and Barry grimly gathered all the paperwork together, _I'm not anymore._

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><p>He was sitting up, half-lucid and sort of woozy, and things were passing in a blur but not in the <em>normal <em>way. Somewhere distant, the little girl was crying so he raised a heavy hand to stroke her hair.

Voices were all around, raised and panicked. Someone was prying at his arms, attempting to lift the little girl away, and Wally protested even though it came out little more than confused mumbling, and tightened his grip.

He had to _protect _her. That was his _job—_if he didn't protect her, she'd get hurt.

"KF— KF, it's okay, it's her dad—"

He knew that voice, trusted that voice, tried to focus his spinning vision and bring that close face into focus but he couldn't.

But the little girl was pulling away now and Wally let her go, and she stumbled but strong arms caught her up and held her close and it was that man, Mattie's dad, Mattie's sister's dad, and he was holding her up off the ground and close, rocking her and crying with her and after a moment Wally was crying too.

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><p>"The Flash is on his way to pick you up," Robin said quietly from the doorway to Wally's room at the Cave, and the hardness that had been in his eyes and around his mouth the last few weeks when he spoke to or looked at Wally was nowhere to be seen. Wally wasn't sure why, but he wasn't complaining. "So it'll be like two seconds, right?"<p>

Wally grinned. "Maybe five, if he remembers to stop and tell Iris."

Robin smiled back, but quickly frowned again as Wally started to sit up and came in. "KF—don't, we don't know how hurt you are—"

"Rob I'm fine, trust me."

A shadow entered his best friend's eyes and was quickly gone again as he reached over to help him. Wally felt guilt churn in his stomach, and caught the smaller sidekick's wrist before Robin could touch him.

"Can I talk to you?"

Robin looked incredibly young for a split second, staring at him with wide eyes through his glasses, but then he relaxed, shoulders slumping and head bowing a little—Wally barely caught the murmured, _"__Finally."_

Wally bit down on his lip so he wouldn't say anything stupid and drew his knees up so Robin would have a place to sit. "If it makes you feel any better, you're the first person I'm actually telling."

When Robin took his glasses off, Dick's blue eyes were intent. And Wally figured he maybe could have told him a long time ago.

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><p>It was sort of stupid to be nervous about <em>anything <em>at the moment, because he had a certain boy wonder on his right and a solid mass of angry clone muscle on his left, an archer and an alien at his back, and an Atlantian ahead of him, ringing the doorbell. He'd like to see Lex fucking _Luthor _take a shot at him right now.

But Wally was still really, really nervous as the front door swung open.

"What the hell is this?"

_Hey, dad._

"We're here to get Wally's stuff," Dick said quietly, eyes flashing. "Out of his room? You know, because he's moving? Away from _you."_

"Robin," Kaldur admonished quietly, but his voice was _dark _in a way Wally had never heard it before. "Please step aside, sir. We don't want trouble."

From the way Superboy's fists clenched, he _did. _But Rudy stepped aside, scowling, giving no one any reason to punch him through a wall, and Wally made a beeline for the stairs—the sooner he got his stuff, the sooner they could get out.

Dick and Conner followed him up, and helped him gather everything, tossing all his clothes into a trashbag and piling his science trophies and action figures and videogames, all the lame things that meant so much to him, carefully into a suitcase. His books went into a few boxes, the posters came down off the walls, and in the work of twenty minutes his room was reduced to a stranger's.

"Do you need your blankets or anything?" Dick asked, voice really soft for some reason.

Wally picked up the suitcase, shaking his head, and started to explain that his room at Barry's house (that he'd had since he was a kid and missions ran so late that Iris insisted he stay the night) was decked out in _awesome _Flash stuff, including a lightning bolt spangled comforter, but the words fell apart halfway through and he sank to his knees, hugging the suitcase to his chest and crying hard.

In a moment, Dick was next to him, shoving the suitcase away and taking its place, hugging Wally fiercely. Superboy slammed out of the bedroom and down the stairs, every footstep loud and as angry as his eyes probably were, and Wally didn't care if he was going down to hit his dad.

His dad _deserved it. _

And his team would be there, to make sure Conner didn't hurt him _too _badly. The way they were always there; even when Wally told them the truth he'd been keeping tucked away, Robin at his side, in a voice that faltered and broke too many times. They were there, all around around him in an instant, a support system _so much like a family _as they immediately began making plans to help him. Never treating him like something broken.

And Dick was there now, letting Wally cling and cry, making sure he didn't put himself through this alone anymore, making sure he didn't run because he didn't _need _to.

And Barry was probably pacing around the whole house waiting for them, because Kaldur had insisted that he should let the _team_ go and Bats had agreed with him with a certain degree of pride. And Iris was probably making dinner, a huge one, for all of them, because somehow she never minded cooking as much as she did.

And everything was falling apart at the same time it was coming together, but as he sat back and wiped his eyes, and laughed helplessly at what Dick offered to do to his dad's credit, and listened to the commotion going on downstairs, he decided that it was the coming together part he would hold onto.

fin


End file.
